Appaeatus foe



(No Model.) heets-Sheet 1.

..E. P. EDE & P. DE BONDINI.

APPARATUS FOR APPLYING POSTAGE STAMPS, ADHESIVE LABELS, AND THE LIKE TO ENVELOPES OR OTHER ARTICLES.

No. 366,574." Patented July 12', 1887.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. E. F. ED'E & P. DE BONDINI.

APPARATUS FOR APPLYING POSTAGE STAMPS, ADHESIVE LABELS, AND THE LIKE TO ENVELOPES OR OTHER ARTICLES.

No. 366,574. Patented July 12, 1887'.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ED\VARD FRANCIS EDE AND POMPEE DE BONDINI, OF GALATA, CONSTAN- TINOPLE, TURKEY.

APPARATUS FOR APPLYING POSTAGE-STAMPS, ADHESIVE LABELS, AND THE LIKE TO ENVELOPES OR OTHER ARTICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 366,574, dated July 12, 1887.

Application filed March 17, 1886. Serial No. 195,617.

(No model.) Patented in England January 13,1886, No. 575; in France February 25, 1886, No. 174,414, and in BelgiumFcbruary .26, 1886, No.72,1fi6.

T0 aZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that we, EDWARD FRANCIS EDE, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and POMPEE DE BONDINI, a subject of the King of Italy, both residing at Galata, Constantinople, in the Empire of Turkey,have invented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Applying Postage-Stamps, Ad

hesive Labels, and the Like to Envelopes or other Articles, (and which has been patented to us as follows: Great Britain,No. 575, January 13, 1886; France, No. 174,414, February 25, 1886, and Belgium, No. 72,166, February 26, 1886,) of which the following isaspecification.

This invention relates to apparatus by which postage-stamps, labels, tickets, and other adhesive marks or things whatsoever, hereinafter ealle stamps, can be with great rapidity and ease picked up, wetted, applied, and caused to adhere to letters, newspapers, books, patterns, samples, boxes, packets, bottles, or other things whatsoever to which it is desired to apply such stamps, withoutits being necessary to use the tongue or other means ordinarily employed for wetting and sticking the same.

The apparatus comprises a stampaffixer, a receptacle for stamps, and a wetter or damper.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a vertical section of the stamp-affixerandstamp-recptacle, with adjustable bottom. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the stamp-affixer. Fig. 3 is a face View of its base or lower end. Fig. 4 shows in vertical section a modified stampaffixer and stamp receptacle. Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the stamp-aflixer represented in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a face View of its base or lower end. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the damper or wetter, which is a box, saucer, or plate, in which is plaeedaflat even-surfaced sponge, or a pad of other substance capable of holding water. It can be made of any shape, size, and of any suitable material.

Referring to Fig. 1, the stamp-aftixer comprises a handle, A, and lower enlargement or base, B, faced with a pad or layer of soft material-such as india-rubber-iu which is a re cess, O. From this recess a hole extends entirely through the handle A. In this hole is arranged a rod or plunger, D, (made, after the example illustrated, in two parts of different diameters screwed together) provided with a knob or finger-piece, E, at its upper end, and an enlargement, F, at its lower end. The end face of this enlargement is recessed, and in the recess is placed a gelatinous adhesive substance,G, slightly projecting beyond the lower surface of the enlargement, and which has the power of picking up and holding, when brought into contact with it, the stamp or other light object without in any way soiling or marking it, while at the same time said object can be easily detached from the gelatinous substance. H is a slight spiral spring, that serves to keep the rod or plunger normally raised, so that the enlargement- F rests within the recess O.

I is a chamber, the form of which corresponds in cross-section to the size and shape of the stamps to be used.

K is the bottom of this chamber, which has attached to it a rack, L, that engages with a pinionor toothed roller, M, by turning which the bottom K can be raised or lowered to suit the quantity of stamps for the time being in the chamber I.

N is a ledge, by which the base B of the stamp-affixer is supported while the plunger is depressed to pick up a stamp.

The top 0 of the receptacle is made funnelshaped to facilitate the insertion into it of the affixer. The receptacle can be made in one compartment, as is shown, or in several compartments, to hold stamps of various kinds. It can be made plain or ornamental,or of wood, metal, or any other material. The stamps to be used are placed in the chamber 1, piled one on the other, with the adhesive sides downward. The sponge of the wetter or damper is wetted and placed inits box, saucer, or plate. To pick up, wet, and apply a stamp the stampaffixer is inserted into the receptacle, as represented in Fig. 1, the plunger is pushed down, so as to press lightly on the pile of stamps, then it is withdrawn with a stamp adhering to the gelatinous adhesive substance G. This stamp is applied lightly to the surface of the wetted sponge or its equivalent, then to the envelope or object to which it is to be stuck, against which the presser is pressed, as in the act of sealing, after which it is withdrawn, leaving the stamp firmly stuck. Should it be found that the stamp has not adhered to the object to which it has been applied, as may happen if said object be of woolen or soft material, then the plunger should be allowed to rise before removing the base B from the object upon which it is being pressed. This will detach the rod or plunger from the stamp and leave it firmly adhering to the object to be stamped. v

In the modification illustrated in Figs. 4, 5, and 6 the base B of the stamp-affixer is not beveled at the edges, and the receptacle is made with a fixed bottom instead of an adjustable one. In other respects theoperation is as described with reference to Fig. 1.

For the purpose of keeping the" sponge of the damper, Fig. 7, wet for a considerable time, it may have attached to its under surface a wick or tail which dips into a hollow in the provided with a ledge by which the base of 0 stamp-affixer is supported, in combination with said affixer, the plunger and handle, the said plunger passing through the handle, and provided at its lower end with an adhesive substance, the spring H, andthestamp-chamher I, substantially as described.

EDWARD FRANCIS EDE. POMPEE DE BONDINI.

\Vitnesses:

H. J. HANsoN, W. E. DORRINGTON. 

